Effects of Active Gases on Droplet Transfer and Weld Morphology in Pulsed-Current NG-GMAW of Mild Steel

The current research of narrow-gap gas metal arc welding(NG-GMAW)primarily focuses on improving the sidewall fusion and avoiding the lack-of-fusion defect.However,the high cost and operation difficulty of the methods limit the industrial application.In this study,small amount of active gases CO_(2) and O_(2) were added into pure argon inert shielding gas to improve the weld formation of pulsed-current narrow-gap gas metal arc welding(NG-GMAW)of mild steel.Their effects on droplet transfer and arc behavior were investigated.A high-speed visual sensing system was utilized to observe the metal transfer process and arc morphology.When the proportion of CO_(2),being added into the pure argon shielding gas,changes from 5%to 25%,the metal transfer mode changes from pulsed spray streaming transfer to pulsed projected spray transfer,while it remains the pulsed spray streaming transfer when 2%to 10%O_(2) is added.Both CO2 and O_(2) are favorable to stabilizing arc and welding process.O_(2) is even more effective than CO_(2).However,O_(2) is more likely to cause slags on the weld surface,while CO_(2) can improve the weld appearance in some sense.The weld surface concavity in NG-GMAW is greatly influenced by the addition of active gas,but the weld width and weld penetration almost keep constant.This study proposes a new method which is beneficial to improving the weld bead formation and welding process stability.

Effect of process parameters on the morphology of aluminum/copper alloy lap joints by red and blue hybrid laser welding

In order to overcome the problems of many pores,large deformation and unstable weld quality of traditional laser welded aluminumcopper alloy joints,a red-blue dual-beam laser source and a swinging laser were introduced for welding.T2 copper and 6063 aluminum thin plates were lap welded by coaxial dual-beam laser welding.The morphology of weld cross section was compared to explore the influence of process parameters on the formation of lap joints.The microstructure characteristics of the weld zone were observed and compared by optical microscope.The results show that the addition of laser beam swing can eliminate the internal pores of the weld.With the increase of the swing width,the weld depth decreases,and the weld width increases first and then decreases.The influence of welding speed on the weld cross section morphology is similar to that of swing width.With the increase of welding speed,the weld width increases first and then decreases,while the weld depth decreases all the time.This is because that the red laser is used as the main heat source to melt the base metals,with the increase of red laser power,the weld depth increases.As an auxiliary laser source,blue laser reduces the total energy consumption,consequently,the effective heat input increases and the spatter is restrained effectively.As a result,the increase of red laser power has an enhancement effect on the weld width and weld depth.When the swing width is 1.2 mm,the red laser power is 550 W,the blue laser power is 500 W,and the welding speed is 35 mm/s,the weld forming is the best.The lap joint of T2 copper and 6063 aluminum alloy thin plate can be connected stably with the hybrid of blue laser.The effect rules of laser beam swing on the weld formation were obtained,which improved the quality of the joints.

Effects of the Process Parameters on Austenitic Stainless Steel by TIG-Flux Welding

The effects of the process parameters of TIG （tungsten inset gas）-flux welding on the welds morphology, angular distortion, ferrite content and hot cracking in austenitic stainless steel were investigated. Autogenous TIG welding process was applied to the type 304 stainless steel through a thin layer of activating flux to produce a bead on plate welded joint. TiO2, SiO2, Fe2O3, Cr2O3, ZnO and MnO2 were used as the activating fluxes. The experimental results indicated that the TIG-flux welding can increase the weld depth/width ratio and reduce the HAZ （heat affected zone） range, and therefore the angular distortion of the weldment can be reduced. It was also found that the retained ferrite content within the TIG-flux welds is increased, and has a beneficial effect in reducing hot cracking tendency for stainless steels of the austenitic type weld metals. A plasma column constriction increases the current density at the anode spot and then a substantial increase in penetration of the TIG-flux welds can be obtained.

Research on multi-objective optimization of GMAW welding of DH36 steel

Weld bead morphology plays an important role in welding procedure specification and welding process planning.In order to obtain the quantitative relationship between process parameters and weld morphology of DH36 marine steel plate,grey correlation method was used to study multiple morphology characteristics simultaneously.Eighteen experimental runs were proposed according to orthogonal method.With grey correlation theory,three response objectives,aspect ratio,depth of penetration and weld were transformed into a single grey correlation grade(GRG).The process parameters were quantitatively correlated to the GRG value and optimized with the target of maximum aspect ratio,minimum depth of penetration and maximum weld area.The results show that the optimized weld bead morphology is better than other weld bead morphology.The relative error of the predicted GRG with respect to the actual value is 5.06%,which further verifies the accuracy of the established model.The microstructure and hardness analysis suggests that the optimized welded joint has obtained required mechanical properties.The research outcomes provide a theoretical basis for multi-objective optimization of arc welding morphology in practical applications.

Formation, Evolution and Final Structure of Interface in 2024Al Joints Fabricated by Explosive Welding

The wavy interface for similar or the same metal explosive welding（EXW） and the universal mechanism of wavy interface formation in EXW were studied in this work. Based on a new established model, it was deduced that the evolution frequencies of the instability were constrained in a limited range. Then experiments of identical metal EXW were performed and welding interfaces were characterized for examining the final morphology. By calculating the fractal dimensions and multifractal spectra of welding interface, the fractal characteristics of interface were revealed and a quantitative description was achieved for EXW interface structure. Thus, the formation, evolution and final morphology of wavy interface were systemically researched.

Secondary Austenite Morphologies in Fusion Zone of Welded Joint after Postweld Heat Treatment with a Continuous Wave Laser

In order to improve the weldability of duplex stainless steels,obtaining more secondary austenite in the weld metal is an effective way.Therefore,optimizing the secondary austenite by changing its morphology,volume fraction and stability may be expected to enhance the ductility of the weld.The secondary austenite morphologies in the fusion zone of the laser continuously heat treated welds of 2205 duplex stainless steel were investigated.The secondary austenite morphologies were found to be influenced by different laser power level.The secondary austenite with penniform,freely grown and dendritic shape appeared in the course of 4,6 and 8 kW continuous heat treatment,respectively.It was found that there were three kinds of morphologies of secondary austenite in the fusion zone treated by different power,i.e.,widmannst¨atten austenite,grain boundary austenite and intragranular austenite.The results demonstrated that the mechanism of the secondary austenite formation was a displacement mechanism during the initial austenite lath formation and a diffusion mechanism during cooling.The nitrides provided the nitrogen for the transformation and at the same time acted as nucleation sites for the secondary austenite.